Despite increase, President Trump retweets post saying America is not in the 'midst of an epidemic of mass shootings'

Less than two weeks after a total of 31 people were killed in back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, President Trump retweeted a tweet that said the United States was not in the "midst of an epidemic of mass shootings.”

The White House's own National Strategy for Counter Terrorism in October stated, "domestic terrorism in the United States is on the rise with an increasing number of fatalities and violent non-lethal acts committed by domestic terrorists against people and property in the Untied States."

Additionally, Brian Harrell, Trump’s assistant director for Infrastructure Protection at the Department of Homeland Security, who spoke at a cyber security conference on Wednesday, said, "society is becoming more violent every day."

"The fact that highly lethal attacks on houses of worship, schools, and public gathering venues can be executed with little planning and bad-actors are often able to remain undetected until operational, together with the sheer volume of 'soft targets', presents a significant security challenge," Harrell said. "We have seen this violence on full display over the past year. The Department of Homeland Security is very aware of this increase in domestic terrorism activity.”

He added, "These violent actions, against innocent and vulnerable populations, are an affront to all Americans and they have no place in society.”

Beyond mass shootings, the retweet comes after six police officers were shot during a shootout with an alleged gunman in Philadelphia.

Mark Makela/Getty Images

PHOTO:Police officers monitor activity near a residence while responding to a shooting on August 14, 2019 in Philadelphia.

Trump tweeted Thursday morning, "The Philadelphia shooter should never have been allowed to be on the streets. He had a long and very dangerous criminal record. Looked like he was having a good time after his capture, and after wounding so many police. Long sentence - must get much tougher on street crime!"

On Wednesday, Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for the president, tweeted that the shootout shows how "dangerous it is to be a police officer."

"Our prayers are with them, all the wounded and the ones still engaged. Attacking police officers is an attack on our decent and lawful society,” Giuliani tweeted.

The president retweeted that tweet, too.

A total of 31 people were killed and dozens others wounded in shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, earlier this month. The shootings renewed calls for gun reform.